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concorde agreement red bull deadlock selling vcarb

Red Bull under fire in Concorde Agreement negotiations, deadlock looms

15 April at 17:00
  • Ludo van Denderen

With the current Concorde Agreement expiring at the end of 2025, it is imperative for the FIA, Formula 1 and F1 teams to open negotiations on a new agreement for the period between 2026-2031. It's clear talks are not going to be easy. For instance, several teams would like it to be forbidden for one owner to own multiple teams. McLaren have made that clear. In that case, Red Bull would have to sell Visa Cash App RB. So a clash seems to be in the making.

A new Concorde Agreement comes into force (in principle) every five years. This agreement sets out the (commercial) rules, the distribution of television revenues and prize money and many other key aspects. In the past, it took a long time—sometimes years—to agree on a new Concorde Agreement.

Red Bull opposes forced sale of VCARB

With several teams' stances to prohibit one owner from having several F1 teams, it seems that a new deal will not be achieved overnight. It is easy to imagine that Red Bull does not want to be forced to sell their sister team, Red Bull Racing, if the Austrian company ever intended to do so, at least by choice.

According to journalist Joe Saward, there are several obstacles before everyone agrees to a new Concorde Agreement. Some of the teams also reportedly want the competition to manufacture more parts of the cars in-house. Currently, it is possible to buy parts from another team; as Haas does from Ferrari. Certainly the smaller teams - from a cost point of view - would prefer this option to remain in place.

Several teams are also want to limit the maximum number of F1 teams to 10. After all, an 11th or even 12th team will mean a smaller share of the cake. Instead, they want to use the money that would be lost as a result to improve their own facilities and become financially healthier themselves.